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Animal Update: SF SPCA Advises On First Aid For Pets

Protect yourself and your family from injury by understanding how to prevent accidents in your home and be prepared by creating a home first aid kit. Creating a home first aid kit is very important and easy. You can either make the items in the kit, or find them at any pharmacy and most supermarkets.
(The text in this photo gallery originally appeared on HealthiNation.com and was last reviewed on 1/6/11. For the full article, visit http://www.healthination.com/topic-center/index.php?t=first_aid_home.) (Photo credit: Thinkstock)

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— Many of our listeners worry about what to do for their pets when they are sick or injured. Dr. Jennifer Scarlett with the SF SPCA said the first piece of advice is to know when to go to the hospital and what to do beforehand.

One of the key things you can do is to keep your veterinarian’s number on your cell phone. Make it easily findable so that not only you, but a friend can easily look it up in case of an emergency.

Animal Update: First Aid For Pets

Another thing you should have on hand is a small kit that you can use to provide basic first-aid to your animal. And by basic, we mean really basic. Do no harm or do no more harm.

If your animal is having a seizure, keep them from falling down the stairs or bumping into objects or furniture. You may also have to learn how to use a muzzle. When animals are sick or injured, often times they resort to biting. The muzzle comes in handy when transporting them to safety.

There are several animal first-aid classes you can take in the Bay Area, including one offered several times a year at the San Francisco SPCA.

There’s also information at the SF SPCA website on how to build your own first-aid kit for your pets, with tips on what to do in some more common emergencies.

A Bay Area native, Jeff is thrilled to be at KCBS, a station he remembers his grandfather listening to during so many of their earliest visits. (Grandpa, now 95, still tunes in every day!) Jeff traces his passion for news back to his high school...